Abstract This study examines the effectiveness of Supplier Quality Management (SQM) strategies in global supply chain networks, focusing on how integrated quality frameworks, technological innovations, and collaborative supplier relationships enhance performance and competitiveness. SQM represents a structured approach to ensuring supplier compliance with quality standards, reducing operational risks, and promoting consistency across complex, multi-tiered supply chains. The research draws on key theories such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Supply Chain Quality Management (SCQM), and systems integration models to explain how firms achieve superior quality outcomes through collaboration and continuous improvement. It highlights the growing influence of international standards like ISO 9001:2015, IATF 16949, and Quality at Source (Q@S) in fostering transparency, accountability, and efficiency among global suppliers. Moreover, technological tools—including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), automation, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems—have revolutionized supplier evaluation and quality monitoring by providing real-time data visibility and predictive analytics capabilities. The findings emphasize that effective supplier selection, development, and risk management strategies are critical in ensuring sustainability, regulatory compliance, and resilience against disruptions such as counterfeits and supply bottlenecks. Case studies of global firms further demonstrate that successful SQM depends on continuous collaboration, digital integration, and adherence to global quality standards. Overall, the study concludes that organizations that strategically align technology, quality standards, and supplier collaboration are better positioned to sustain long-term performance, innovation, and competitive advantage in an increasingly interconnected and volatile global supply environment. Keywords: Supplier Quality Management, supply chain networks, ISO, IATF, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, sustainability, supply and bottlenecks

Improving carbon productivity is essential for simultaneously achieving sustainable development goals and tackling climate change. While the Global Value Chains (GVCs) division enhances productive efficiency, its impact on carbon productivity remains elusive. Here we integrated the GVCs theory with the Environmental Expanded Input-output model to investigate the highly globalized automotive manufacturing industry. We found that CO2 emissions intensity, the inverse of carbon productivity, fluctuated between 0.37 and 0.47 kg/USD in automotive manufacturing GVCs during 2001-2021. Notably, developing economies nearly doubled their CO2 emissions intensity during this period, whereas developed economies almost halved theirs. The global distribution of CO2 emissions and value added is becoming increasingly unequal in industrial production and service segments. Lower production levels and energy efficiency in developing economies, coupled with their upstream roles in GVCs (raw materials and industrial parts suppliers), exacerbate these disparities. Our findings indicate that merely global labor division is insufficient to create low-carbon automotive manufacturing GVCs. Formulating emission reduction targets that consider the diverse roles of economies within GVCs, and supporting developing economies in boosting energy productivity, labor value added efficiency, and skill can help narrow the distribution gaps and enhance the carbon productivity of the entire automotive manufacturing GVCs.

As global value chains integrate firms operating under varied institutional contexts and distinct technological capabilities, the uniform adoption of green standards becomes challenging. A “one-size-fits-all” sustainability approach often fails to account for the voids faced by firms in different contexts participating in one value chain, particularly in developing economies an area where academic research remains limited and fragmented. This research gap is the motivation for the present study. Through a systematic review of 56 articles, this paper examines how technological gaps and institutional voids in global value chains (GVCs) affect firms’ capacity to leverage environmental performance across different national and organizational contexts. Building on this synthesis, we develop an integrative conceptual framework that elucidates these dynamics and offers actionable insights for managers seeking to navigate environmental performance in heterogeneous institutional and technological settings. Our findings contribute to the literature on sustainable GVCs and guide practitioners aiming to foster effective cross-border collaborations that enhance environmental performance.

The development of halal supply chains reflects a growing need to integrate religious integrity with modern supply chain imperatives. The analysis presented has shown that sustainability, transparency, and regulatory compliance are no longer peripheral considerations but essential pillars of advancement. Each dimension is interconnected, shaping not only operational practices but also the credibility and competitiveness of halal industries in global markets. Sustainability offers halal supply chains the ability to translate Islamic values of stewardship into practical strategies such as eco-friendly logistics, renewable energy adoption, and circular economy practices. Transparency, strengthened through digital technologies, ensures that consumers can verify halal authenticity with confidence. Yet, adoption of such innovations remains uneven, particularly among small and medium enterprises, making supportive infrastructure and inclusive policies a necessity. At the same time, fragmented regulatory frameworks continue to generate inefficiencies and weaken trust, highlighting the importance of harmonized and adaptive systems that can respond to emerging sustainability and technological demands. What emerges most clearly is the need for integrated governance models. Addressing sustainability, transparency, and regulation in isolation is insufficient. By embedding these elements within a cohesive framework, halal supply chains can move beyond compliance toward leadership in global value chains. Achieving this transformation will position halal supply chains as models of resilience, responsibility, and innovation in the evolving landscape of international trade.

As a complex system that transcends national boundaries, the global energy value chain (GEC) faces multiple challenges in achieving multistage coordination and value creation. The widespread penetration of digitalization is becoming a key means of overcoming these bottlenecks. Against this backdrop, this study assesses how digital input influences countries’ participation in the GEC and explores the underlying mechanisms and the nonlinear features shaped by resource endowments. Using industry-level panel data for 74 countries from 2001 to 2020, this paper constructs both linear and nonlinear econometric models. The empirical results suggest that digital input is positively associated with deeper integration into the GEC. This effect is primarily realized through improved global connectivity, enhanced knowledge sharing, optimized industrial coordination, and increased production efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect of digital input is more pronounced in high-income and nonresource-dependent countries, suggesting that national characteristics condition the responsiveness to digitalization-driven value chain participation. Importantly, the analysis reveals a nonlinear moderating effect of energy resource endowment. Specifically, digital input tends to promote value chain participation when energy-related natural resource rents exceed a certain threshold; however, the marginal benefits decline as rents continue to rise, consistent with characteristics commonly associated with the resource curse. Based on above findings, the study provides targeted policy recommendations.

This article analyzes the evolution of bilateral trade relations between Costa Rica and the People's Republic of China, assessing the extent to which Costa Rica has achieved its strategic objectives in terms of trade and investment through this bilateral relationship. To this end, trade and investment flows are examined using the methodology for analyzing international competitiveness developed by the ECLAC used in the Module for Analyzing International Trade (MAGIC) and the International Trade Graphic System (SIGCI), in order to observe their quantitative evolution and to delve deeper into the nature of that trade. The results show that, although bilateral trade has grown, it has not been accompanied by a significant flow of foreign direct investment from China, whose level in Costa Rica is well below the average for Latin America and the Caribbean. Moreover, the technological content of Costa Rican exports to China has decreased, while Chinese exports to the country have become more sophisticated, leading to a reprimarization of Costa Rican exports, moving away from the expected value chain effect towards higher value-added products. Among its conclusions, the article highlights how trade disputes could position Costa Rica as an export platform for Chinese products. It also points to the need for a regional approach to take leverage the Belt and Road Initiative, promote integration into Chinese global value chains to improve the technological content of exports, and promote a strategy focused on specific niches. Finally, it underscores the importance of effective coordination within the government, foreign policy, and regional actors to attract Chinese investment and maximize the benefits of the bilateral relationship.

Abstract The global shift towards animal-rich diets has spurred agro-industrial production of soybean and maize feeds, causing significant ecological burdens in Brazil, a major global poultry producer and exporter. Organic soybean-poultry production and the related value chain (VC) have evolved as an alternative to address the sustainability challenges of their conventional counterparts. However, their overall sustainability needs thorough analysis. We studied the environmental sustainability of conventional and organic poultry systems, from production in Brazil to supply to local and global markets, using life cycle assessment. We inventoried and assessed the ecological footprints of all stages of VCs: feed production, related poultry production (Chicken eggs and meat), slaughter, and supply to local and global markets. Our findings revealed that, for egg production, both systems had similar feed conversion, with 0.6 kg of soy meal embodied per kg of eggs in conventional eggs and 20% more in organic eggs. Conventional meat production showed 15% better feed efficiency than organic production, with about 0.57 kg of soy meal embodied per kg of both meats' liveweights. We found several trade-offs among the environmental impacts of the poultry VCs studied, as impacts fluctuated unpredictably across systems. In eggs’ VCs, compared to the conventional system, the organic system performed significantly better on climate change impacts, ecotoxicity, and biodiversity impacts; had similar energy use as the conventional system, but worse scores on acidification, eutrophication, and particulate matter formation impacts. We found almost similar trends in meat VCs, where organic products had the lowest climate change, ecotoxicity, and biodiversity loss impacts but worse scores in other impact categories. The high impacts across all VCs originated from the burden of intensively produced feeds, the wood used for heating and bedding, manure management, and the extended VCs. Transport footprints of chicken meat from Paraná to global markets could account for up to 30% of the overall products’ carbon footprint, emphasizing the need for improving supply chains’ efficiency, and most importantly, local supply chains, which could also promote locally closed nutrient loops. Sustainability assessments looking additionally at animal welfare, meat quality, and social impacts would improve overall systems appraisal.

ABSTRACT Understanding the resilience of global economies amidst increasing natural and man‐made disruptions is crucial for effective policymaking in an increasingly uncertain and interconnected world. However, most existing studies analyze such disruptions in isolation, overlooking their compounded and interactive effects on economic resilience. This study addresses that gap by examining how sustainability uncertainty, energy market volatility, supply chain pressures, and oil market shocks collectively influence global economic resilience. Using monthly data from November 2002 to December 2023, we analyze six key indicators: the sustainability uncertainty index (SUI), the energy uncertainty index (EUI), real commodity factor prices (RCF), oil supply shocks (OSS), oil inventory demand shocks (ODS), and global supply chain pressure (SCP). These indicators are employed to assess their dynamic effects on the Global economic condition index (ECI), a proxy for resilience. A wavelet‐based approach is utilized to capture time‐frequency interactions and nonlinear causality among the variables. The findings reveal that the ECI is most strongly influenced by sustainability and energy uncertainties, particularly during periods of economic weakness, while SCP and OSS amplify downturn effects in the short term. In contrast, RCF shows positive long‐term associations with resilience, and SCP and the SUI display increasingly supportive long‐run relationships, which may reflect adaptive adjustments rather than causal stabilizing effects. These results underscore the importance of robust ESG frameworks, diversified energy strategies, and resilient supply chains with regard to supporting long‐term economic stability in line with global sustainability goals.

Structural changes and trend evolution of China’s integration into global value chains under heterogeneous trade modes

An optimized shared responsibility accounting framework: unveiling the big black shadows behind small emitters in global value chains

Positioning in global value chains and well-being in sub-Saharan Africa

Recent global value chain reconfiguration: drivers and consequences on EU carbon footprint

ABSTRACT Forced labor and precarious working conditions are increasingly visible in high‐income economies of the Global North. Mostly perpetrated by the private business sector, immigrant workers are disproportionately affected. However, most management literature has focused on labor exploitation and human rights abuses connected to global supply chains in the Global South. Yet, in industries or activities not easily offshored, low‐cost business models contribute to labor market exploitation in high‐income economies. The ability to implement such models depends on the institutional context as well as corporate capabilities. This insight does not, however, resolve the issue why also democratic welfare societies with strong legal systems see such practices. Using Sweden as a case, we ask what a sociological lens can contribute to our understanding. It suggests that forced labor is an emergent outcome of interlocking market, state, and institutional logics, reinforced by increasingly restrictive migration regimes. Conversely, an appreciation of the business side could inform sociological studies of migration and labor exploitation. Bridging management, sociology, and migration perspectives, this review contributes to the growing recognition that combating modern slavery requires not only better corporate compliance but also a rethinking of the institutional and social foundations upon which contemporary business models depend.

Digital safeguards in trade wars: assessing the impact of China’s CBEC pilot zone on global supply chain resilience

Indonesia has been pursuing a broad push towards greater trade openness with regional and global partners, seeking to leverage external demand to reach high-income status by 2045. This welcome and timely effort comes amid ongoing trade policy shocks. Our analysis suggests that deeper trade integration, focusing on reducing non-tariff barriers, along with complementary structural reforms, can generate significant GDP gains for Indonesia. These gains can come from unilateral actions on reducing non-tariff barriers affecting imports, which would be amplified by increasing market access in the context of trade agreements with major partners. Alongside trade policy, structural reforms in other areas—such as human capital and logistics—can further enhance trade integration. These reforms can reduce trade costs on their own, while also complement trade policy by helping Indonesia to broaden comparative advantage across sectors. Such an ambitious trade liberalization and structural reform program could make Indonesia ‘open for business’ amid shifting global supply chains; the resulting GVC-integration, supported by FDI, could drive gains beyond this paper’s estimates.

Tracking biodiversity footprints embodied in the global supply chains of agricultural commodities: the examples of Germany and China

ABSTRACT Under Global Value Chain (GVC) restructuring and the deepening strategy of domestic circulation, this study investigates how Domestic Value Chain (DVC) fragmentation affects green total factor productivity (GTFP). Using multi-regional input–output tables for Chinese provinces from 2002–2017, we construct a continuous, comparable measure of provincial DVC embeddedness and apply a fixed effects model. The results show that upstream DVC integration significantly promotes GTFP, challenging the GVC view that downstream segments yield greater environmental benefits, and revealing a passive upgrading path for central and western provinces supplying key intermediates for coastal green transformation. This positive effect is stronger in southern, environmentally beneficiary, and strictly regulated provinces. Mechanism analysis indicates that scale effects and technological innovation are the main transmission channels, with applied innovation contributing 98.66% of the mediating effect, far exceeding inventive innovation. The study shifts the paradigm from GVCs to DVCs and informs differentiated regional green transition policies.

The increasing complexity of global supply chains demands intelligent systems capable of providing specialized guidance on logistics, procurement, inventory management, and operational optimization. This paper presents a comprehensive methodology for fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) to create domain-specialized supply chain agents. We developed a novel data pipeline that extracts, processes, and transforms 131 authoritative supply chain textbooks and professional resources into 161,741 high-quality question-answer training pairs using an automated bootstrapping approach with GPT-4o-mini. Using supervised fine-tuning (SFT) on GPT-4.1-mini via Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, we achieved strong training convergence (73% token accuracy, final loss 0.94) and 87% expert-rated correctness on held-out evaluation samples. Our results demonstrate that domain-specific fine-tuning significantly enhances LLM performance on supply chain reasoning tasks, producing models capable of explaining causal relationships, evaluating trade-offs, and providing actionable insights grounded in established supply chain principles. The methodology presented offers a reproducible framework for creating domain-specialized AI agents in enterprise domains.

This study analyzes how disparities in green trade barrier information systems (GTB-IS)—covering regulatory transparency, compliance monitoring, and standard interoperability—affect industrial relocation, with global value chain (GVC) integration as a mediator. Using panel data (2005–2022), the authors develop a spatio-temporal model to assess GTB-IS asymmetry impacts. Findings show advanced GTB-IS drives polluting industries to relocate, while green sectors remain stable due to technological and data dependencies. Manufacturing shifts to regions with lower GTB-IS maturity to reduce compliance burdens, whereas R&D activities stay in high-maturity areas with robust data infrastructure and standard-setting advantages. This research contributes to the literature by integrating dynamic modeling with GVC analysis, offering nuanced insights into the evolving interplay between environmental regulation and global production networks.

The global palm oil industry is increasingly exposed to shifting trade policies, environmental pressures, and changing consumer demands, prompting a re-evaluation of how market diversification strategies are conceptualized and implemented. This study aims to explore the strategic role of market diversification in enhancing the resilience and competitiveness of palm oil producers in responding to contemporary global market dynamics. The research adopts a qualitative approach through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), focusing on peer-reviewed articles published between 2020 and 2025. Data collection was conducted using structured keyword queries across the Scopus database, yielding 4,173 initial results. Through a multistage selection process based on topic relevance, publication year, and open-access availability, 26 articles were identified as meeting the inclusion criteria. Data analysis used thematic coding to identify dominant patterns in conceptual framing, implementation practices, and outcome assessments related to diversification strategies. The findings reveal that market diversification is increasingly viewed as a multidimensional strategy that encompasses geographical expansion, product innovation, regulatory compliance, and digital transformation. Implementation varies significantly across actor types: large firms adopt integrated approaches, while smallholders face institutional constraints. Despite growing academic attention, standardized tools for measuring diversification outcomes remain limited. This review concludes that diversification is not merely a tactical response but a structural pathway for sustainable transformation in the palm oil sector. Future studies are encouraged to develop integrated impact metrics and explore inclusive strategies that empower small-scale actors in global value chains.